Gregs 22g Long Saga

[QuickrdenU]

Tank is doing fine. But, probably not unlike others I’ve outgrown it VERY quickly. I can’t seem to get the flow right and bought the Weakest power head I could find and it was way too much. Smallest sicce pump and remove power head. Still not enough……RFG nozzle still not happy. It’s just too small and I should’ve thought longer about the decision. I’m not in any particular rush. But I’m currently building out my 22g long that I’ve had laying around for 3 years and never built. I’ll use this journal for my transition and journey into the bigger tank.

I’ve got too many expensive aquarium goodies laying around to be messing with a 3 gallon tank. I shouldn’t have let my fear of Dino’s dictate the size of the tank I was building.

I use the Jebao SLW-10 in the top left area under the overflow. Makes a nice standing wave on the 2nd or 3rd speed setting and the first mode setting. The overflow isn’t big enough to generate enough flow with the return pump. Not unless you want to cut out some of it and go with maybe a 150gph pump.

 

[GatorGreg]

I like the tank a lot. It’s just very hard to do anything in it because it’s so tiny lol. I’m fully committed to the 22g now

 

[GatorGreg]

Excellent work so far. I like the rustic wood on the stand a lot, also a big fan of your drink choices. Alot of great options in there.

Thank you! That means a lot after seeing your craftsmanship

 

[minorhero]

Getting clean lines when doing silicone is an art form I don't think anyone appreciates until they try to do it themselves.

+1 for liking the rustic stand.

 

[GatorGreg]

Well I’ve been very busy. The goal is to have this up and running before May. I think I’ll probably beat that goal because I have yet to hit a roadblock. I know one is coming though. I’m kinda nervous at how well this all went. I’m waiting for something to go wrong lol.

the water test was successful I only had to tighten one of the threaded plugs for future connections and the bulkheads on the bottom of the over flow. Amazingly I don’t have any of the glued fittings leaking.

the tank will have 2 AI primes over it. The other one is still lighting the desk mate

 

[GatorGreg]

Rock order should be here tomorrow! I got 6 more pounds of the Aussie rock to add to the other 6lbs I already have and the 8lbs of TBS rock I already own to make around 20lbs. I plan on making two piles of rock on each end under each light and have them both taper toward the middle of the tank. With plenty of room on all sides. I’m really focused on trying to dial in my flow on this build because it was something I struggled with the past two tanks I’ve had. I have plenty of power in this one. I just have to get the placement right.

I’m going to start with reef crest setting at half power and see how that works.

 

[GatorGreg]

We rollin. Temp good, salinity good.

 

[GatorGreg]

I scored a great deal on a skimmer from an advertisement on here! Coralvue was running an open box sale on a skimmer. I’m tapped out on funding for this tank right now. So some of the big boy brands were out of the question. Ordered the IceCap K1 100 yesterday for a 100 bucks and it was sitting on my porch by 10am. I completely forgot they were located only a couple hours down the interstate from me. It’s already up and running and breaking in!

 

[GatorGreg]

Obviously it’s not dialed in yet. But I can tell you this. It’s much more quiet than I expected for the price point. I’m ecstatic!

 

[GatorGreg]

Full tank shot. Still got about 10 more pounds of rock to put in. But I’m not breaking down the pico yet. Maybe around mid April everything will be transferred over and I’ll get some fish!! I need to build a lid though.

forgot to add that I also have 15 marine pure balls in the sump for extra surface area.

 

[AnyNameYouWish]

Miami is a really nice chalice!!! Get your parameters stable and it will take off.

frag when I got it

About year of growth

 

[X-37B]

Get yourself a phone lens kit.
Best $30 I have spent in a long time.
I use IceCap.
This is a pic of my 20g nano cube.
Its powered by 2 16hds.
Mostly sticks but the color is great, imo.

 

[GatorGreg]

2 awesome reefs! I am determined this time. I hope mine can look remotely close to those by next year

 

[GatorGreg]

I absolutely love these two corals. They are the ones doing the best in my tank.

 

[GatorGreg]

They love feeding time. Fat and happy

 

[GatorGreg]

Getting there. Not quite dialed in yet. I can get it to skim perfect. But anytime I do a waterchange, feed or anything out the ordinary. It seems to lose its skim and it takes a little while to churn back up. I’m assuming this is normal from what I’ve read.

 

[GatorGreg]

I’d Like it to be darker

 

[ReefBoost]

ugh I need to get me those camera lenses now lol....tank looks great!

 

[GatorGreg]

Montipora hanging in there. Poor lil fella. I almost murdered it on accident. In the tiny tank it was mounted too high and the circle around the base of growth began to bleach. I only had the prime set to 35 percent and it’s an SPS so I figured it needed to be high. Now that it’s in the new tank it must like the stability of the larger volume of water because it looks 10 times better than it did in the pico. I’m glad that I decided to transfer them over early. Them seem to be happier

 

[GatorGreg]

ugh I need to get me those camera lenses now lol....tank looks great!

You don’t know how much I appreciate you thinking that this tank looks great. Daily I question my abilities in reefing and wonder if I am crazy for spending all this money again for the 3rd time lol. I’ve only had one successful reef and that was as a teenager in the early 2000s. Every one as an adult has been a failure. I’m trying so hard to do a good job on this one and I want a beautiful reef so bad lol. I hope this one pans out to be what I dream of it to be